Machine for forming and cleaning ditches



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G. W. CASE Patented Fe`b.20,1883.

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n 5 Sheets-Sheet 4. C. W. CASE, J. O. PATTEB 8v A. M. LONG. I MACHINE POR FORMING ANDGLEANING DITGHES. No. 272,412.

Patented Feb. 20, 1883.

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C. W-CASR J. 0. PATTEE 8u A. M. LONG. MACHINE -FOR ECRMING AND CLEANING BITCHES.

N0. 4272,412. Patented Feb. Z0, 1883.

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UNITED. STATES PATENT OEEICE.

CHARLES W. OASE, JOSEPH O. PATTEE, AND ARCHIBALD M. LONG, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 272,412, cla-.ted February 20, 1883.

MACHINE FOR FORMING AND CLEANING DITHES.

Application lled July 21,1882. (No model.)

, BALD MOORE LONG, all citizens of the United States, and all residents of Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Forming Ditches in RailroadOuttings,-of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the construction and maintenance of the ditches alongside the tracks of railroads where they pass through cuttings; and it consists in the -construction and combination of parts hereinafter particularly described, and then sought to be specifically dened by the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view, and Fig. 2 is a plan view, partially in section, of the ditch-forming machinery at work.

Fig. 3 is a side view, showing one manner of dumping the buckets. Fig. 4t is a side-view,

land. Fig. 5 is ra plan view,`showing the position of the derricks and draft-beams when arranged for transportation. Fi g. 6 is an end view of the apparatus at work. Fig.7 is arear view, Fig. 8 is a side view, and Fig. 9 is afront view, of one form of dumping-bucket; and Figs. 10, 1l, and 12 are similarvews of another form of dumping-bucket. Fig. 13 is a front view, Fig. 14 is a side view, and Fig. 15 is a plan view, of another form of bucket, which will be used in forming or clearing ditches in muddy soil, or as an auxiliary to follow the other buckets. Fig. 16 is a side view illustrating a variation in the manner-of operating the buckets. Figs. 17, 18,19,and 20 are views ot' the mudbucket shown in Figs. 13, 14, and 15, illustrating more fully its method of operation.

lIn operating railroads it is found necessary to form ditches alongside the railroadtracks where they pass through cuttings, to carry oii' the surplus water that iiows into the cuts7 during rain-storms or from melting snow and ice. M uchdifficulty is experienced in keeping these ditches clear from obstructions caused by the washing into them of mud and sand from the sides ofthe cuttings. After nearly every heavy rain-storm, and after the water caused by melting snow and ice has flowed throughthese ditches, they are clogged with dbris and require clearing to prevent the tracks being overtiowed, and to quickly and easily clear these ditches of such obstructions,

as Well as to form the ditches originally, is the object ot' my invention. Y

The apparatus may also be used in forming deeper ditches for tile draining alongside railroad-tracks, to prevent the frost heaving the tracks.

In using the apparatus in ditcheslled with soft mud, which is the usual conditionA of the obstructions, the earth and water for from two hundred (200) to three hundred (300) feet in front of the buckets is moved along ahead of them; hence that length of the ditches may be cleared at each operation, and then the apparatus moved backward and another stretch of two hundred or three hundred feet removed. This ability to move so large an amount of material by the expenditure ofso small an amount of power-is an importantfeature. The tracksin these cuts are usually on a grade, or it' they are not the ditches are ofcourse formed with a sufcient fall to carry oft'the water; hence the large bod y ot'mud removed by the buckets is assisted very materially in its movement by the downgrade77 ot' the ditch. The buckets will be formed in any suitable manner or ot' any suitable material, and will be arranged to conform to the ditch to be formed or cleared, different qualities of soil or difterent systems ot' road-beds requiring different forms or construction of ditches or buckets. For the purpose of illustration we have shown several forms of bucket and theusual form of apparatus for manipul lating the buckets. This apparatus consists of a car, A, mounted upon trucks B, adapted to run upon the track O, and provided with a frame, D.

E E2 E3 E4'are derricks stepped upon suitable bases upon the car A, and supported at their tops in the frame D, and adapted to swing outward over the ditches F F2, alongside the track O, when in use, or be turned inward, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, when not in use.

G Gr2 G3 G4 are four beams or booms,v pivoted at at' a2 a3 a4 upon the car A, and adapted to swing outward, with their outer ends over the ditches F F2, as shown, when in use, or

turned inward upon the car-platform when not in use,as shown in Figs 4 and 5. When swung outward for use they may be retained by any slitable fastenings, as a stirrup and pin. (See a H H2 are buckets or shovels adapted to lit the ditches F F2, and connected to the derricks El E2 E3 E4 by chains b, said chains arranged to be raised and lowered by windlasses c upon the derricks. The buckets H H2 are provided with bails ee-one at each cnd-to which the chains b are attached, while a third bail, c3, at the front end ofthe bucket, forms an attachment for chains g, to connect the buckets to the outer ends of the booms G Gr2 or G3 G4, these latter chains thus forming draft-chains7 to draw the buckets forward, while the chains b support the buckets and regulate the depth of cut by being raised or lowered by the windlasses. Ordinarily only one pair ol' the booms G G2 (J5 G4 will be used at a time-viz., the pair that happens, for the time being, to be at the front end of the ear or ahead of the buckets; but by providing a set of the booms for each end ofthe car the buckets may be operated from either end or in either directionwithoutturningthecararound. The car will be drawn forward by a locomotive usually, or any other power may be used.

The buckets, as before stated, will be constructed in any suitable manner; but the form most generally used is that shown in Figs. 3, 7, 8, and 9, consisting of a body, H' or H2, conforming in their cross-section to the ditch being operated on, and having a sharpened front edge, h', and hinged rear end, h2, held closed by a latch, It, so that when illed with earth it may be easily dumped by tilting the bucket up by the windlasses and chains c b, as shown in Fig. 3, and tripping the latch its to permit the hinged back h2 to open and allow the earth to run out. Damp cla-yey soil will only run out of the bucket in the same direction thatit runs in hence the necessity fordumping from the rear; and to still further aid this dumping the buckets will be formed larger at the rear than at the front end when arranged to dump from the rear. Dry sandy soil, however,willdn1np as well from the front as from the rear, hence the bucket for that kind of soil may be made, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 16, with a closed rear end, and tapering slightly from front to rear, the rear end being the narrowest, so as to dump easily. Then, again, some kinds of soil require a bucket like that shown in Figs. 10, 11, and 12, divided through the center ofthe bottom and opening outward the whole length, as shown in Fig. 12, thus droppingthe whole load at once.

In operating in dry sandy or clayey soil the car is run into the cut far enough beyond the end so that when the buckets are lowered down and set into the ground and drawn forward the buckets will be filled by the time they reach the end of the cut. The front ends of the buckets are then raised upward until they are free from the ground and the car drawn forward to the dumpingplace,the load dumped, as shown in Fig. 3, and then run back into the cut and the operation repeated, the natureor condition of the soil determining the distance back of the beginning ofthe previous cut the buckets shall be set for the beginning of the next cnt. As before stated, when the ditch is filled with soft mud the buckets will act upon two hundred or three hundredrfeet in the length of the ditch at once. while in most other conditions of soil not much more than the lengths of the bucket can be acted on at once.

Several sets of the buckets may be used at once in some kinds of soil, either by attaching them to one car or by providing a car for each set ot' buckets.

In Figs. 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, and 20 is shown still another form of bucket for use in ditches lled with soft mud, consisting of a hollow dish-shaped shovel or scoop, I, having wings t" t2 upon its sides and smaller wings m' m2 upon the upper edges of the wings i il. When drawn forward this bucket assumes the position shown in Fig. 17, the hollow part I scraping up the mud and piling it up in front of it, as shown, and, like the other forms ot' buckets, acting upon the mud for two hundred or three hundred feet in advance of it, while the wings z" i2, acting upon the sides of the ditch, remove the mud therefrom, and preserveits symmetry. When mud and water only are to he removed from the ditches itis simply forced from the end of the cutand allowed to tioW down into the hollows beyond. Hence, when the end of the cut is reached, the bucket last mentioned simplydumps what soil or mud may have gathered in the dish-shaped part I, and is then drawn backward through the ditch again, as shown in Fig. 19, until another section of mud is reached, and the operation repeated. When drawn forward some ofthe mud may be thrown up in ridges on the brin ks of the ditcl1es,and when the buckets are drawn backward in the ditches, as shown in Fig. 19,

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the small wines m' m2 will scra e these ridges ot' mud back into the ditch again, this being the oilce and object of the small wings.

The buckets I may also be attached to the booms G G2 G3 G4 in the rear of the buckets H H2, to remove from the ditches any mud or soil which the buckets H H2 may fail to act upon.

The derricks E' E2 E3 E4 will not be used in connection with the buckets I, except to hoist them upon the car when not in use or lower them down into place when they are to be used.

It frequently happens that the centers of deep cuts are also the summits of grades 5 hence the ditches are operated upon from one end up to the center, and then the buckets turned around and connected to the booms upon the other end of the car and operated from the opposite end.

In Fig. 16 is shown a slight variation in the manner of constructing and operating the bucket, consisting in a txed beam, K, in place of one of the derricks, and a rigid arm, L, in

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place of the forward supporting-chain b, con necting said beam K and the bucket. By this means the nose7 of the bucket is held firmly down into the ground,.whiel1 will be required in some kinds of work. y

Steam, hand, or other power may ybe employed to operate the derrieks and their windlasses.

What I claim as new is l. The combination of a oar, A, the swingin g derricks E Ez and their wiudlasses, a boom or beam, G2, adapted toybe projected from the ear and moved back, and a bucket, H', connected to the two derricks by chains b. and to the projecting beam by draft-chain g, whereby the several parts will operate as set forth.

2. The oar A, derricks E E2 E3 E4, booms Gl G2 G3 G4, and buckets H H2, in combination with the mud-drags I, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The mud-drag consisting of the hollow dish-shaped part I, wings i' i2, and auxiliary wings m m2, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. t

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set z 5 our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES WHIPPLE CASE. JOSEPH ORMOND PATTEE. ARCHIBALD MOORE LONG.

Witnesses:

A. W.' SHUEY, G. F. BERGSTADL 

